Were the Guns Too Loud? Irish Soldiers Take Issue to Court

By JAMES F. CLARITY

Published: January 26, 1998

DUBLIN, Jan. 25—
Irish soldiers, who have never in this country's 75 years of proud independence had occasion to fire a shot in defense of the homeland, are now engaged in war -- or at least extended skirmishing -- with their own Government.

The fight -- which has caused a debate, sometimes humorous, in newspapers and on radio and television -- is over court claims by about 3,000 soldiers that the Government should compensate them for a hearing loss. The soldiers, about a quarter of the total number in uniform, say that their hearing has been impaired by the boom of cannons, albeit during practice, and by the stutter of automatic weapons fire.

The Government says, in effect, that most of the claimants are malingerers who have hired sharp lawyers. The Government also contends that if the courts uphhold the claims, it will shatter fiscal plans and deprive people of necessary services in health, housing, welfare and other areas.

If that happens, said Defense Minister Michael Smith, ''this country would be going down the tubes.''

Mr. Smith, a burly and articulate farmer from rural County Tipperary, has counterattacked, saying that Ireland is becoming a ''compensation culture.''

His charge echoes statements by legal and insurance experts, who say the Irish have become one of the most litigious peoples in Europe.

The country currently has about 700 troops in southern Lebanon as part of a United Nations peacekeeping force. Although Ireland has a Constitutional claim to sovereignty in the British province of Northern Ireland, no one has ever suggested that the army should be sent up to enforce it.

The army does patrol the border with Northern Ireland, 50 miles north of Dublin, to restrict the activities of the outlawed Irish Republican Army, which wants to drive Britain out of the province. But the Irish Army does not engage in pitched battles with the guerrillas, many of whom store their guns and explosives in tunnels and caves south of the border.

In the hearing compensation battle, an army officer recently was awarded $45,000 by the courts but remained on duty in Lebanon. Last Monday, another man, who made a claim 30 years after he left the army, lost his case. He was left with a legal bill of about $20,000 and an admonition by a judge that his claim seemed ''rather opportunistic.''

The soldiers have won most of the 1,100 cases processed in the last few years, though, with an average award of about $30,000.

On Friday, the army chief of staff, Lieut. Gen. Gerard J. McMahon, said that only 30 percent of the claims were valid and that the conflict was ''devastating morale'' in the army.

''There's an industry going in this,'' he added. ''People are making money out of it, people are doing well out of it, making careers out of it.''

Most Irish men and women agree that one of the country's flaws is what is called ''begrudgery,'' or envy of another's success or good luck. People have been calling radio talk shows, generally vexed by the soldiers' claims.

Some have recited their own sarcastic doggerel, such as, ''If the jacket is too tight, the army will not fight.''

The budget numbers involved are formidable, by Irish standards. The army compensation for hearing claims has already cost the Government about $115 million, including court costs, and could cost as much as $22 million a month this year.

The cases are tried before a judge, without a jury, in civil court. The Government and other critics have accused the legal profession of ardent ambulance-chasing. But Ken Murphy, director of the Law Society of Ireland, said that ''the lawyers are only doing their jobs.''

Mr. Smith, the Defense Minister, says, though, that if the lawyers do not stop encouraging people to file claims, he will order their Government-paid fees cut in half. The soldiers' trade union has proposed an independent study of the situation.

''Here we have a game with no rules,'' General McMahon said, referring to the lack of compensation standards on the difference between impairment and disability. ''A scam is something where the rules are bent,'' he said. ''We have no rules here. For God's sake, give us rules.''

The Government, in a flanking maneuver, has announced that it will appoint a committee.